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Let me just start by thanking everyone who has downloaded my book from Amazon. It is still .99 until January 12th. Keep on downloading! My daughter’s car (which I technically own) was parked harmlessly about a month ago when someone backed into it. The body shop has just found time to work on it and I took it in this afternoon. As part of the arrangement, I was to be provided a rental car. When I was taken out to check it over for damage before taking possession I saw that I had been given a Ford Fiesta. Now I certainly could stand to lose some weight but I am not that big. When I sat down in the driver’s seat one of my shoulders was hanging off the back of the chair. The seat was back all the way and my knees were bent in front of me. I like to think of myself as someone who is not picky but this just wasn’t going to work. I politely asked the nice young lady if I could have something a little bigger. She said I would need to talk to the insurance company to get a larger size. So I called the insurance company. They said I had been approved for a sub-compact car. I never knew what that term meant until today. After explaining the situation at length they approved me for a full sized car. I was promptly taken to the car lot for the rental company and given a 2014 Chevy Silverado Extended Cab. Talk about a change! Now I was sitting in a tank. The only thing missing was the gun turret. It was too big to fit in my garage. The agent talked to me about the gas and how much it needed to have when I returned it. Then she spoke to me about optional insurance. It was a terrifying speech. She said that I was responsible for any damage like someone opening a car door into it or someone scratching it. That doesn’t sound so bad, right? Wrong. Then she said a claim would be filed against my insurance and I would be charged for the damage plus the number of days the truck was “Off the road.” I don’t know what all that would add up to but it was a lot. I am a trained salesman and I know a fear appeal speech when I hear it. This was one of the scariest ones ever. The more she talked, the more I considered the optional insurance. A knot was forming in my stomach. All I could think of was hitting something with this huge truck. Why couldn’t I have fit in the Fiesta? Then she told me the price. It was $20.00 a day for as long as I had the truck. I’ve had repairs take as long as a month before. Even if it’s only a couple of weeks, that’s $240 I would be paying whether I damaged the truck or not. It’s half way to my deductible. So there was a fight within me. If the scared side won I would pay for the insurance. If the cheap side of me won I would not do the insurance and roll the dice. I am no gambler and abhor taking risks but I declined the coverage. The expense just didn’t seem justified. Now I have a huge truck parked in front of my house I am scared to drive. What good is that? It was either feel like that or pay the money and feel like a sucker. So the days of terror begin. Maybe my wife will drive it? She doesn’t worry about such things.